2024 Publications

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2024 Submissions

November – Feedback to Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy 2025-2030
CoMHWA is pleased to see acknowledgement in this Strategy of the need for rebalancing the system away from an emphasis on acute and hospital supports towards prevention and community-based supports, and hope that our feedback helps to enhance the focus on this across the whole document. This submission draws from our members’ feedback on the consultation paper and argues that more needs to be done to clarify how the Strategy will transform the system.

October – Select Committee on Cost of Living – This submission gives evidence to the Australian Government about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people with mental health changes. We had a very high number of members who wanted to share their views, experiences and ideas for change around the cost of living and we want to thank everyone who helped shape our submission. Our discussion shows that when people are not able to afford the basics (housing, healthcare, food), let alone entertainment and recreational activities that allow them to connect with family and friends, it can be much harder to be well. This isn’t news to anyone familiar with the social determinants of mental health, but it bears repeating while there are still policies in place that do not ensure equitable access to the things we need.

October – HaDSCO Review – The Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO) is reviewing their legislation for the first time in twenty years. In this submission, we share our members’ views on where HaDSCO services need improvement as well as where we think their powers and resources should be increased to hold health services accountable for intentionally or unintentionally causing harm or violating our members’ rights when they use health services. In particular, we emphasise the importance of involving Lived Experience expertise in HaDSCO policy and service delivery to better understand mental health challenges.

September – Western Australian Eating Disorder Framework – This submission offers feedback to the Mental Health Commission’s state Eating Disorder Strategy. Overall, the document aligns well with the key concerns raised by our members, particularly in its emphasis on early intervention, improving access to services, and the role of lived experience in program design. However, there are opportunities for improvement in areas like affordability of services, cultural responsiveness, and the availability of community-based supports. Enhancing attention to the needs of priority populations, such as Aboriginal people and gender-diverse individuals, would further strengthen the Framework’s impact.

June – Guardianship and Administration Act Review – In our preliminary submission to the review of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990 (WA), we share our members’ and advocates’ experiences with Guardianship and Administration to underline specific issues that must be considered in the next stages of the review.

May – Feedback to the draft National Autism Strategy – We commend the National Autism Strategy for establishing a good starting place for considering what the Australian government can do to improve the lives of Autistic people. In this submission, we emphasise that more needs to be done to acknowledge that Autistic people have nuanced needs, strengths and desires, and that a one-size-fits-all strategy will ultimately not work effectively.

May – Feedback to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment – This submission critiques the proposed legislation changes to the NDIS, which we believe signal a desire by the NDIA to divert people with psychosocial disability away from the NDIS. We argue that the changes must not apply new ‘one-size-fits-all’ Rules to NDIS Participants (current and prospective) in order to acknowledge that all individuals have unique support needs.

April – Remember PHaMs – This position paper has been developed to support of the “Bring Back PHaMs” grassroots campaign, which advocates for a new service, that takes up the many strengths and service philosophy of the PHaMs model, addressing the significant gaps left in the wake of funding moving to the NDIS.

March – Submission to the NDIS Regional Experience Inquiry – CoMHWA’s submission to the ‘NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia’ Inquiry is founded upon the stories and experiences of our members, and aims to address the profound injustice faced by people accessing the NDIS and appropriate supports in Regional and Remote Australia.

2024 Briefings

August – National Mental Health Commission’s National Report Card 2023 of the Australian Mental Health System – this paper provides a summaried understanding of the National Report Card, and discusses CoMHWA position and concerns.

July – NDIS Act Legislative Amendments – This briefing paper provides an overview of key areas of concern CoMHWA has identified in the changes proposed to the NDIS “Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill No.1” legislative amendment. This paper focuses on how people with psychosocial disability could be affected.

May – The Gayaa Dhuwi Declaration – This briefing paper explains and underlines the importance of The Gayaa Dhuwi Declaration as a set of principles for ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have equitable access to culturally appropriate approaches to mental health alongside clinical interventions